Turns Out Red States Rely The Most On Federal Aid

A new report suggests conservative states might bemoan "big government," but that doesn't stop them from taking full advantage of federal aid.

Conservative states might bemoan "big government," but according to a new report from the Tax Foundation, conservative states tend to require the most federal aid.

That's right, it turns out that the conservative states are among the most reliant on federal funding for revenues.

According to a new report put out this week by the Tax Foundation, among the most reliant of all the states are Mississippi and Louisiana, relying on about 42 percent of their respective overall revenues on federal aid.

While the correlation between these two factors may not directly relate, it is an interesting overlap that should be taken into account.

According to The Washington Post, "The Tax Foundation's analysis is based on a crude calculation of Census revenue data: Divide each state's 'intergovernmental revenue' (i.e. revenue from other governments) by its 'general revenues,' a category that includes most — though not all — state revenues."

Federal funding can come in many forms, including Medicaid payments, educational funding, housing grants, infrastructure financing, and many more.

While the South holds the majority of the federal funding, the Northeast holds almost none. This could be due to the fact that the most reliant states garner the least amount of funding from residents since they tend to house poorer populations.

This is just one way to draw up a revenue map of the country, but it certainly paints a hypocritical picture of those who complain about taxes and "big government."